By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Aqaba, Jordan (CNN) — The USA has had direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian insurgent group now in de-facto management of the nation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned Saturday.
The primary public affirmation of direct interplay with the US-designated terrorist group, referred to as HTS, got here on the conclusion of Blinken’s diplomatic dash via the area spurred by the sudden collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“Yes, we’ve been in contact with HTS and the other parties,” Blinken mentioned at a information convention in Aqaba, Jordan. Blinken didn’t give particulars on when the contact was made or at what degree. There is no such thing as a authorized barrier to talking with a chosen terrorist group.
“We have pressed upon everyone we’ve been in contact with the importance of helping find Austin Tice and bringing him home,” Blinken mentioned, referencing the American journalist who was detained in Syria greater than a decade in the past. The US has redoubled its efforts to search out him within the wake of the Assad regime’s collapse.
The US additionally shared the rules anticipated of a brand new Syrian authorities, together with that the rights of all Syrians ought to be revered, that the nation should not grow to be a base for terrorism, that humanitarian help have to be delivered, and that chemical weapons stockpiles ought to be secured and safely destroyed.
These rules, circulated by the US within the days after Assad’s surprising ouster, had been additional agreed upon by the US and a coalition of different nations throughout an pressing ministerial assembly in Aqaba on Saturday, Blinken mentioned, noting the settlement “sends a unified message to the new interim authority and parties in Syria.”
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